Throughout the years a host of manually operated tilling devices have been proposed. In general, such devices are frequently used as tools to separately till and separately seed. In contrast, many power operated seeding devices can simultaneously furrow and seed the furrowed seed bed. The inability to provide hand operated seeders which may be effectively used to till and seed a tilled bed arises, in part, from the arts inability to devise a handy device capable of permitting the manipulative conduct of these two cooperative steps. Current devices often unduly strain and overtax the manipulative capabilities of the operator. Illustrative of manually operated seeding devices adapted to seed or spread seed upon a tilled seed bed may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,124,523 to W. J. Reeser which discloses a seed receptacle equipped with an adjustable valve plate. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,807 to P. Keller discloses a hand operated seed planter comprised of a hollow upright tube for containing grass seed and a seed transfer plate positioned on the bottom end of the tube. U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,714 to Walsh discloses a manually operated seeding device for separately preparing and then reseeding small bare spots in a lawn. File Walsh seeder includes scarifying teeth designed for separately scarifying a bare spot, an elongated telescoping tubular member, a hopper for holding grass seed, and a check valve assembly which regulates the amount of seed released to the scarified soil. U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,612 to Atkinson discloses a lawn and garden implement having an elongated hollow handle and a furrow-forming and closing head within which dispensed seed is seeded from the hollow handle into the furrowed soil. The Atkinson implement may be provided with various interchangeable tools for performing various gardening tasks. U.S. Pat. No. 1,124,523 to Reeser also provides a hand operated seed planting device equipped with a receptacle or container body, a removable closure cap and an adjustable valve plate. The Reeser valve plate contains a series of circular openings which regulate the quantity of dispensed seed.
As evident from the aforementioned, the heretofore planting devices typically necessitate independent tilllng followed by a separate seeding step. Manual devices designed to penetrate the soil and seed are not effective in proper seed bed preparation in that such devices typically rely upon making a compacted furrow, placing the seed in a furrow and then closing the furrow. This leaves much to be desired since effective seed bed preparation necessitates a fluffing, aerating and tilling of the seed bed into a soft, lightly compacted seed bed which in turn is ideally suited for promoting the nurturing and growth of the seeded seeds.
The inventor desired a manually operated device which would be capable of tilling a seed bed to a desired texture (e.g., lightly compacted) for seeding as opposed to those devices designed for furrowing and scarifying the seed bed. The tilling and seeding device would desirably be equipped to regulate the amount of seed seeded into the tilled seed bed. A device capable of churning the soil into a suitable seed bed for planting and permit a regulated amount of seed to be dispensed onto the seed bed and then churned into the prepared seed bed would greatly enhance the germination efficacy of the planted seed. A manually operated device which would allow for simultaneously tilling and covering of the dispensed seed within the tilled soil would also greatly enhance the efficacy of manually operated seeding devices. A device capable of simultaneously performing these multiple tilling and seeding operations with ease would be especially beneficial to horticulturists.